


The Wedding Album

by PinkLetterDay



Series: The Westallen Wedding Album [2]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: A lot of disney references, But no Felicity in this either, F/M, M/M, Multi, No character bashing, Oliver is the nice huggy crossover Oliver we wanted, Sara is the Westallen fairy godmother, Stein lives, Tooth Rotting Fluff, a dollop of angst for flavour, an excess of cheese, not the one we got, the Waverider is magic, with a little push from a future speedster
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-15
Updated: 2018-01-18
Packaged: 2019-02-15 04:12:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 12,643
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13022985
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PinkLetterDay/pseuds/PinkLetterDay
Summary: And suddenly Barry’s small hand had been in hers.“Look at me, Iris,”he had told her earnestly, his wide hazel eyes holding hers as the audience rippled in surprise."I remember what to do. Don’t be afraid. We can do this together, just like how we practiced, okay?And she did. She wasn’t afraid anymore. Of anything. Because Barry was there."I do.”





	1. Swear to God, This Time We're Not Kidding

**Author's Note:**

> They finally get married, yo!
> 
> This one was a doozy to write. Mostly to try and make the incidental song lyrics as painless as possible and the cheese level even.
> 
> Dedicated to rkwago and @blue_wonderer, my personal founts of encouragement and validation in writing this story.

 

When they arrive with the dying rays of the sun, Barry and Iris are stunned to find the waterfront transformed into a bower of wildflowers and fairy lights and lanterns. Picnic tables set with candles and autumn leaves are arranged in rows in front of a towering gold-lit marquee, sheer banners fluttering in the wind. An aisle strung with twinkling lights and strewn with petals cuts a silk path to a magnificent arch wound in jewel-toned blooms of red, yellow, orange and purple on a raised dais. It hasn’t been a cold November at all, but the air is still curiously warm. It feels like a young summer in fall colours.

(Later they will learn that the absent Lyla had pulled some serious ARGUS strings to get them the waterfront at short notice, as a wedding gift from her and John. Also that Linda and Joanie and Lily Stein had called up every florist in Central City to get enough flowers, using Wally and Kara as cheerful pack mules. Jax had rigged up the Waverider’s 22nd century climate control technology to create a bubble of May weather; Mick’s firepit had taken care of the rest. Oliver, Harry and Cisco had supervised the construction of the marquee and roundly gotten on each other’s nerves for an entire afternoon.

Absolutely no one can tell them where on earth the band came from, though Sara looks a little shifty when asked.)

The air is suffused in motes of gold as the violin strains of Pachelbel’s Canon in D wafts sweetly through the sea breeze. Two by two, their groomsmen and bridesmaids begin to walk down the aisle; first Oliver and Sara, then Wally and Linda, Harry and Kara and finally Cisco and Caitlin. They take their positions around the dais, where Professor Stein is beaming venerably. Iris has a sudden image of the kindly old man being struck by a bolt of blue, her hand involuntarily tightening around Barry’s as they walk forward. He squeezes back reassuringly, grounding her, and she refocuses on the faces of their loved ones smiling at her from either side, the sudden chill disappearing.

The guests close ranks around Barry and Iris in an unspoken accord, as they face each other under the overhang of defiant autumn flowers. Barry and Iris look around the ring of faces and are overwhelmed. Some dear and familiar, others very new friends, and others only yet acquaintances, all who had come to put together the pieces of their broken dream.

(“You two are a symbol, Iris” Caitlin had told her earlier in her room, smiling at her in the mirror as she helped her dress. “We all need something tangible to remind us to keep dreaming.”)

The two of them hold each other’s hands even tighter, looking at each other with tear-filled eyes, heartbeats almost painful.

Stein’s words are fatherly and fond, to tell by their tone, even though either one of them hardly hears what he says until he calls for the rings and Cisco steps forward to offer the silver bands.

“Do you, Bartholomew Henry Allen, take this woman, Iris Ann West, to love...

 ___

 

Barry hadn’t realized how fragmented he has been since Speed Force had spat him out - until he suddenly feels all the divergent timelines trailing behind him snap into place at this single fixed moment that anchors Iris’s hand to his own. The devastation Eobard and Savitar and Zolomon had wreaked, the altered pasts and torn futures all converge into one, because this is what he was always destined to become - the husband of Iris West. His lightning rod.

“..as long as you both shall live?”

“I do." As though in a dream, he slides the glittering ring onto Iris’s finger.

____

 

“Do you, Iris Ann West, take this man…,”

Iris is transported to a childhood memory as Martin speaks, the edges of it soft and sepia toned. She remembers being as frightened then as she is now, but without the pounding undercurrent of joy and hope. Only a very small girl in a ballerina dress, frozen under the blinding stage lights of the school auditorium, looking at sea of shadowed, expectant faces. Barry’s face now becomes juxtaposed with his child face, hair flopping into his eyes as he had leaned forward eagerly in his seat. _“Look at me, Iris! Look at me!”_ She had seen him moving in the audience, but there were too many people - she couldn’t understand what he was trying to show her from all the way there - her heart pounding in her throat - her mind a complete blank - her Dad would be so disappointed - she had never felt so mortified in her entire life -

And suddenly Barry’s hand had been in hers. _“Look at me, Iris,”_ he had told her earnestly, his wide hazel eyes holding hers as the audience rippled in surprise. _“I remember what to do. Don’t be afraid. We can do this together, just like how we practiced, okay?”_

And she had. She hadn’t been afraid anymore. Of anything. Because Barry was there.

“I do.”

Her heartbeat evens as she slides the ring on his hand, holding his gaze in hers.

They are the only two people in the world until Stein finally says, “Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife.” The earth seems to stand still in disbelief that it has finally happened.

“You may now-,” Iris breaks out of their stunned joy with a shriek and launches herself into Barry’s arms, “kiss the bride,” finishes the Professor with good humour as Barry lifts her up and whirls and whirls her around, trying to kiss each other through hysterical laughter.

(Everyone is crying, and even Mick blinks rapidly, although no one is fool enough to mention it.)

Leaning her forehead against her best friend’s, Iris finally gets it.

_“Look at me, Iris. Don’t be afraid. We can do this together, just like how we practiced, okay?”_

“Okay,” she breathes against his lips.

“Okay,” he tells her back, because he knows, somehow.

He always knows.

Startled, delighted cries from the others finally bring them back to the present, and they look up to see dozens of doves taking flight above them into the blazing sunset. Amaya has one hand raised to the sky and one at her glowing totem. “Just a little persuasion,” she winks, as everyone applauds uproariously. The West-Allens step down from dais, grinning madly, right into a sobbing Joe West’s arms. They are immediately mobbed by their entire bridal retinue, even as Joe’s tears fall on their heads and theirs on his shoulders. Zari touches her amulet, palm open to the air and a powerful updraft sweeps all the scattered petals off the green and dances them about their heads; people cheer madly in a victorious melee, almost drowning out the song the band had chosen to play.

 

_I knew I loved you then_

_But you'd never know_

_'Cause I played it cool when I was scared of letting go_

_I know I needed you_

_But I never showed_

_But I wanna stay with you until we're grey and old_

_Just say you won't let go_

_Just say you won't let go_

____

 

There’s no point having a receiving line for a gathering so small but Barry feels buffeted by about a hundred people all the same. No one is reticent about bounding up to them and shaking his hand and kissing Iris’ cheek; Barry too wants to hug everyone in the world. He’s still grinning so hard his cheeks are starting to ache, he thinks he must be illumined from within like a ridiculous man-shaped jack-o-lantern; all he can feel is the solid smoothness of the ring on his finger.

He barely knows Nate, but still finds himself pumping the man’s hand vigorously before _Hartley freaking Rathaway_ appears out of nowhere to grab him in a headlock (this would have been awkward if Barry wasn’t so deliriously insensible; he still hasn’t gotten back all the memories of the timeline he altered and mostly remembers Rathaway trying to liquefy his internal organs) Dr. McGee has made it to the ceremony the second time around too, and they accept her warm wishes before turning to -

“Julian!” Barry cries in surprise.

“Well, I did RSVP that I was coming, mate,” Julian grins, clapping him on the back. He looks like a different person almost, smile open and relaxed. “Just thought I’d skip the gun fights and turn up for the free food, if it’s all the same to you.”

“We’ve missed you,” Iris tells him warmly. “What have you been up to in London?”

“Oh well, you know,” Julian shrugs. “Coming back to the fold as the prodigal son, I suppose. I left a whole lot of responsibilities behind when I ran away to Central City. After everything that happened last year, I decided the universe was telling me to stop running, same as you, Allen.”

“I’m glad,” says Barry, smiling at his one-time nemesis. “So your RSVP said you were bringing a plus one?”

“I did,” beams Julian, tugging forward a tall, dark haired man. “Everyone, meet Harry. Harry, this is the STAR Labs team that I’ve been telling you about. Barry Allen, consistent pain in my arse, his lovely wife Iris West-Allen…”

There is a stunned silence as everyone takes in the slender, floppy haired young man in glasses. He and Barry are of a height.

"It’s a real pleasure to meet you, Barry,” says the newcomer, uncertainly holding out his hand. His accent is distinctly English. “Jules speaks highly of you.”

"Well, that just can’t be true,” says Barry with a nervous laugh, coming back to himself and shaking Harry’s hand. The awkwardness dissipates slightly as they all echo his laughter.

“Barry,” whispers Iris urgently as Julian and his boyfriend walk off to get drinks. 

“I know,” he mutters, trying to look away.

“His name is  _Harry,_ Barry,” his wife hisses in his ear.

“That’s probably a coincidence,” reasons Barry, trying to readjust his worldview.

“No, but this explains so much,” Iris insists, smiling fixedly at a passing guest.

“What?”

“Hey did I just see Julian Albert holding hands with your Earth 2 doppelganger?” demands Cisco, bounding up to them.

“Oh come on, he didn’t look  _that_ much like me,” protests Barry unconvincingly, as the other two crane their necks to look at the couple.

“I’m calling it, Ramon, you owe me twenty bucks,” crows Iris. Cisco groans. “It is official. Babe, Julian Albert had a big gay crush on you.” Barry sputters in bewilderment.

“On a less awkward note,” interjects Cisco, jumping up and down with a bright grin and waving into the distance, “guess who just turned up.”

“Cindy!"

The bounty hunter has traded in her usual no-nonsense leathers for a beautifully flowy plum coloured dress and a large red blossom behind her ear. Cisco looks at his girlfriend adoringly as she draws the newlyweds in for a hug. “I hear you had an invasion without me,” she accuses, tucking herself into Cisco’s side. “That's just rude.”

“Well you have a tendency to hog all the best villains, babe,” Cisco smarms at her, “you and I wouldn’t have left any for the rest of them.”

“Cisco got knocked out at the ceremony and missed most of the major plot twists,” deadpans Barry and Cisco squawks with indignation. “But we’re really glad you made it when it counted.”

She lets out a huff of laughter. “So I hope you don’t mind, I picked up a couple of stragglers along the way,” she says with a self-satisfied smile, gesturing behind them. "Thought you might like to see them."

Barry and Iris turn around and the air vanishes from Barry’s lungs for a moment.

_Dad._

_No, not Dad,_ sense reasserts itself after a moment of vertigo. _Jay._

“Cindy,” Barry breathes. “How did you…”

“You amateurs need to hit up the pros next time,” smirks Cindy, elbowing her boyfriend. “They don’t call me an inter-dimensional bloodhound for nothing.”

It’s odd to see Jay without his suit. Not that Barry hasn’t seen him in civvies before, but it makes it more difficult every time, to see him in a smart casual blazer and shirt like this one and not see his father at first sight. But then the picture readjusts itself, like the brain getting used to an optical illusion, and the image becomes much more clearly Jay.

“Hey kid,” the older hero's tone is gruff but his eyes are soft, and the illusion tries to waver again. 

“Jay,” Barry says shakily, “God, man, we looked everywhere for you. Could have told us if you were going into early retirement.” He wraps his arms around Jay, whose hold is strong but distant somehow. The image solidifies again. This is not his father and never will be.

It doesn’t bring the same deep stab of pain Barry was expecting. His parents, Barry realizes, have been kept nestled safely inside him all this time, watching the happiest moment in his life unfolding from within his heart. After years of longing and bereavement, they are finally where no masked villain can ever wrench them from him again - perhaps the final gift of his time in the Speed Force.

“Sorry, Barry,” says Jay, a shadow hovering over his features. “I needed some time to get my head on straight myself. It wasn’t easy watching you walk into the Speed Force all those months ago.” He grips Barry’s shoulders tightly. “I thought I had failed you.”

“You could never,” Barry smiles at Jay earnestly. “None of that was on you. I’m sorry I put everyone through that.” He looks down at Iris’ soft expression, feeling a stab of guilt through his happiness when he recalls her tear-streaked face.

"I’ve put Joan through about as much,” chuckles Jay, leaning down to drop a kiss on Iris’ cheek. “You’ll weather it all together because you can’t imagine doing anything else. I’m...proud of what you’ve both achieved,” the normally guarded man’s eyes shimmer. “You look beautiful, Iris,” he say sincerely, and Iris hugs him tight.

It is then that Barry notices the young woman trying to hide behind Jay. Jesse Quick’s eyes flicker nervously between him and Iris, and his wife’s hand on his arm stiffens.

“Hey,” says Jesse, beginning to wave awkwardly and aborting the movement to tuck her hair behind her ear. “Um, so I thought I’d gatecrash too?”

There is a tense moment, then Barry walks forward and engulfs the girl in a hug. Whatever happened between her and Wally will keep till tomorrow. Today is a day for love and forgiveness and celebration. He had missed his first protegé and sort of errant little sister.

“Hey, Jesse,” he keeps a warm, brotherly arm around her. “We’ve missed you.”

Iris relents. “Yeah, we really have,” she says, accepting a kiss on the cheek from Jesse as well. “It’s good you came. Today is for Team Flash, past, present and future.”

“Here, here,” says Caitlin, materializing at Jesse’s elbow and draws her against her side. She steers the younger woman toward the tent as Curtis comes up with a what looks like a camera-bazooka hybrid to shepherd the wedding party to pose for pictures. “Come on, I'll introduce everyone to our littlest speedster. Don’t worry, Jesse, I know how to dodge your Dad.”

____

 

A flurry of photos later, which mostly involve the exuberant party tossing various members up in the air and being carried around on each other’s shoulders (Oliver nearly gets thrown in the fountain by an over-enthusiastic Kara at one point and Wells tries to supervise everyone until they actually do dunk him in it at the end) Mr and Mrs. West-Allen are chivvied by the crowd into the marquee (“It’s freaking tall, how the hell, Oliver?” “Queens go big or go home, Barry.”) -

 - which is awash in Curtis’s spheres hoving in mid-air, glowing like milky golden moons; Ray’s nano lights moving gently on the high roof shrouded in darkness and down the blue-hued tent walls, the effect like stars falling from a drifting constellation in a night sky.

On the side is mounted a magnificent seven tier raspberry chocolate cake -

(“My cake! You rescued my cake, Sara!”

“I’m the captain of a time ship and a trained assassin, Iris. I can retrieve a wedding cake, no big deal. Pfft.”

“...this isn’t my cake is it?”

“Ok, no, Mick and Nate accidentally ate yours. But the Waverider was able to replicate it. Gideon has become weirdly good at baking.”) 

\- a champagne fountain

(“Also courtesy of the Waverider.”

“How are you guys not drunk all the time?”

“Who says we aren’t?”

“Well that explains a lot.”

“...rude.”)

\- and a raised stage in front of the dance floor where the band was now assembled.

(“Seriously, Sara, where did you get a band? They aren’t transmogrified from mice, are they?”

“I think that was horses, actually. And that’s classified Time Bureau information.”

“...there’s a _Time Bureau_?”)

Someone has replaced the groom on the cake topper with a tiny Flash action figure, to general hilarity (“I don’t get it,” complains Joanie, whereupon her mother and the Wests look at her with dawning horror and realization.)

_____

“Introducing Mr and Mrs. West-Allen!” Cisco bellows into the mic and the guests bursts into applause. They part like the Red Sea for the couple to sashay in grandly for their first dance.

Barry twirls Iris out into the dance floor with a flourish, her skirts flaring and swirling outward like a flower startled into bloom. The starlight falling from the ceiling suddenly fades as Curtis’s spheres glow brighter and they are bathed in soft white-gold light.

_I found a love_

_For me_

_Darling just dive right in_

_And follow my lead_

It’s so easy, Iris thinks as they glide effortlessly around the floor. It’s always been so easy with him, even when it had been hard, and terrible and confounding. She wants to laugh wildly in exhilaration, some part of her still nine years old in her pretty ballerina dress, pirouetting in abandon with her best friend.

_'Cause we were just kids_

_when we fell in love_

_Not knowing what it was_

 

“What?” Barry asks, smiling down at her. His delicate features look beautiful haloed in this light as they sway, hips loose, her ring sparkling on the hand she has anchored on his shoulder.

 

_But darling, just kiss me slow,_

_your heart is all I own_

_And in your eyes you're holding mine  
_

 

“I think I’ve been dancing with you forever,” Iris tells him dreamily.

 

_We are still kids, but we're so in love_

_Fighting against all odds_

_I know we'll be alright this time_

 

Barry’s eyes are soft as he draws her closer. "You have,” he whispers.

 

_Baby, I'm dancing in the dark_

_With you between my arms_

_Barefoot on the grass_

_Listening to our favourite song_

The tendrils of sea breeze blow through the marquee, ruffling the gauzy drapes and flowers. The crowd is hushed as they watch them dance; the soft surration of the water keeping time with the music. The sky outside is now a deep velvety purple but everything here is soft, ethereal and golden. The faces and lights around them are a blur as they spin and spin in each other’s arms.

_When I saw you in that dress, looking so beautiful_

_I don't deserve this, darling, you look perfect tonight._

________

 

Joe leads his daughter onto the dance floor and wonders if he’ll ever stop feeling like crying tonight. His baby looks like a princess in her dress, even lovelier than Francine had been, he thinks, with the dull sadness that accompanies her memory. He has made his peace with Francine’s betrayal and her passing, but looking down at their little girl ( _“mint chocklat chip! Mint chocklat chip, Mommy!”_ ) he wishes achingly that she were here to see her now.

_What does it take to win your love for me?_

_How can I make this dream come true for me?_

Joe can tell that some people are a bit confused by the non-traditional song choice but Iris’s breath hitches and her eyes well up. Neither of them could ever forget that night, him cleaning his gun compulsively again and again, willing his hands not to shake. Trying not to give into terror while his child tried to comfort him, although it was her life that was about to be snuffed out.

_Oh, I just got to know,_

_Oh, baby, 'cause I love you so,_

_Gonna blow for you_

Iris has always been that way. Putting him, and later Barry, first. Always being the first to protect, to understand, to comfort.

He remembers once crying in the kitchen during a particularly bad year, his mother’s hospital bills on the table and unable to find someone to babysit Iris for him to pull double shifts. He had been too blinded by his own tears to see the small sock-clad feet padding toward him until her little hand had started stroking his cheek.

“It’s okay to cry, Daddy,” she had parroted him earnestly, big brown eyes unafraid above the stuffed Turtle McSnurtle. “You’re still brave if you cry. But it’s all gonna be alright, okay?”

_I've tried, I've tried, I've tried,_

_I've tried in every way_

_I could to make you see how much I love you_

In what she had thought may be her last moments, she had taken his cold, trembling hands and danced with him, laughing. Laughing like she’d never fear anything as long as her Daddy was beside her with his gun and his badge to protect her from the monsters in the dark. Even though she knew it wasn’t true anymore.

_Oh, I thought you understood_

_So you gotta make me see,_

_What does it take to win your love for me?_

They had won. They had beaten the monsters and gotten Barry back and now she was finally where he had always known she would end up ever since she had dug up Francine’s old veil from the attic and exchanged fruit loop rings with her best friend in front of that blessed dinosaur.

Joe West grabs his daughter’s waist and lifts her high above him as she shrieks in delight. _We won, baby girl,_ he marvels, revelling in the sound of her laughter, _we won._

___

Everyone assembles at the candlelit picnic tables for dinner, next to the buffet laid out by the caterers and the BBQ grill Mick is already firing up. Champagne is handed around for the toasts. Joe, having already said his best words at the rehearsal dinner, simply gives the couple his love and raises his glass and Barry is too overwhelmed to do more than humbly thank everyone while trying not to choke up too much.

And then the Best Man stands up.

“All right people, listen up,” says Cisco clearing his throat.

“I know y'all are hungry and speeches seem kind of pointless after we've all just finally gotten these two lovebirds safely hitched - defeating an invading inter-dimensional army was pretty hard too,” Cisco allows, to chuckles from the crowd, “but this is my chance to roast my best friend in life in front of everyone we know. So sit your asses down in front of all this food and suffer for a good cause!”

“I wasn't always this charming, suave, handsome, personable individual you see before you now. I was kind of a nerd as a child, ("As a child?" "I heard you, Cynthia") and had a hard time making friends. Maybe it's ‘cause I hadn't yet grown into my luscious mane, maybe cause I spent too much time in my Dad's garage tinkering and making things explode (usually the garage) maybe it was cause not many people were willing to give a shy, chubby Latin kid who spoke in nerd references a chance. I was a lonely kid, more at home with my gadgets than people.”

"So my Mom bought me a guinea pig. And I finally had a friend in a 10 ounce ball of sentient fluff called Frodo. I loved that little guy. I'd keep his cage near me while I was working and talk to him about school, my ideas, movies, the stuff I was building. I'd make him little motorized wheelies and a Middle Earth obstacle course and once, a jet pack. (Don't worry, it didnt work) He was my best friend.

“But the thing about guinea pigs is that they are really hard to keep alive. They literally drop dead from eating too much. I still don't know exactly what happened to Frodo, but one day I came home from school and he was dead. I cried for a week.

"Then, four years ago, my mentor at the time got me another guinea pig. He was comatose but he'd been hit by lightning and survived, which I thought was _awesome_. No one knew why he wouldn't wake up but I was told that it was now my responsibility, mine and Caitlin's, to use every resource we had to keep him alive.

“I was excited at the challenge, but also afraid, because I hadn't even been able to keep my pet alive. What chance did I have with a human being?

“However, failure wasn't an option and keeping Barry Allen alive has since become my sole purpose. We didn’t really understand why at the time, but I think we both somehow knew in our bones that Barry Allen would be someone important to the world.

"What I didn’t know then was how important he would become to _me._

"I couldn't have known that the man whose heart we tried so hard to keep beating would go on to become the best friend I’d ever had. My brother. Someone who had so much faith in my abilities that he'd put his life in my hands again and again. Who never let me feel like a misfit. Who was such a hopeless dork he made me look good in comparison." Barry gives Cisco a thumbs up as several people laugh and hoot. "The Frodo to my Samwise."

“(Cause let's face it, Sam's the one who did all the heavy lifting)

“But it wasn't till I met the pretty girl who kept visiting Barry when he was in a coma that I realized - I wasn't the one who kept his heart beating.

“When Barry first called Iris his best friend, I was like 'O _h. Okay._ _That’s cool. I have my own best friend. They're in Canada',"_ Cisco's tones are coloured in deep skepticism and jealousy as the audience laughs, "It took me a while to understand exactly what kind of best friend he meant.

“Barry meant the kind of best friend you made at the age of eight and fell in love with at the age of eleven and grew up with for the next fourteen years making mooncalf eyes at and doodling "Mr. Iris West" with little hearts on desks.

“He meant the person you need to be near to feel safe, the one that's always in the back of your mind. Who only need to touch you for your insides to knit themselves back together. He meant the best friend who had their own gravity meant specifically for you.

“When I realized that, I stopped being afraid that one day I would fail in my purpose. Because even I could see the bond the two of them shared even if they hadn't named it themselves. How she could reach him and guide him in ways I never could. My powers can open portals into any world or dimension he might disappear to, but it’s only Iris who can bring him home.

“So today, I want to thank Iris for my brother." Cisco holds her gaze steadily even as her eyes fill. "For sharing with me the weight and privilege of protecting and caring for him. For calling him home.

“And also for finally, finally making him stop pining for you like a twitterpated giraffe. Seriously, it was getting ridiculous." Cisco waits for the laughter and catcalls to subside.

“And I want to thank Barry Allen, for being the kind of friend a lonely boy never dreamed he’d have when all he had was his pet guinea pig. For giving me hope and purpose. For giving me the kind of confidence in myself that I needed to become more than just a nerd with a talent for coming up with, _admittedly awesome_ , code names," Barry and Cisco mime fistbumps across the table (“Nerds,” snorts Sara.) "And for always, always coming back home to us.

“I'm not just going to wish you both the happiest future you can have. I'm going to stand by you and make sure you get it. Because after everything you and Iris have been through, that is the _least_ that you deserve.

“So please, folks, raise a glass to Barry and Iris West-Allen, the luckiest couple alive. May all the disasters that may befall them be followed by as much love, laughter and joy as this one.”

The tables erupt into applause and cheering as the newlyweds leap up from their seats. Barry, with his long legs reaches Cisco first and hauls him into a headlock; Iris is close behind, wrapping her arms around them both.

“Love you, Mr. Frodo,” mumbles Cisco into his friend’s shoulder.

“Love you too, Sam,” chokes Barry, and unabashedly holds him close for a long time.

___

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't actually know if Julian's boyfriend is actually Harry Potter. I've always thought that Grant looked much more like book!Harry (tall and thin, pale pointed face, messy hair and green eyes) than Dan Rad. Perhaps he is the Muggle version of Harry. 
> 
> I'm very sad that I wasn't able to work Kendra into the wedding. Poor Rob and Singh aren't in the know (or at least need plausible deniability) so couldn't make it. It's a superhero-and-adjacents-only party, I'm afraid. 
> 
> Who IS the band? Where did they come from? Are they really mice? Read on to find out!
> 
> Songs in order of featuring:  
> "Say You Won't Let Go" by James Arthur  
> "Perfect" by Ed Sheeran  
> "What Does It Take To Win Your Love" by Jr Walker and The All Stars that Iris and Joe dance to in Infantino Street. 
> 
> By which way, do go and check out the cutest Westallen fanvid in existence, which was the whole reason I started writing this fic: https://youtu.be/a0_ibln5zhI
> 
> Next up: Drunken knife throwing and hip hop dance battles!


	2. Shut Up And Dance With Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Multi-ethnic food, irresponsible drinking and knife throwing, dance battles, duets and the downfall of Oliver Queen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Trigger warnings for Mick's alcoholicsm.
> 
> I had this written for a month and took this long to pad and edit it. Sigh.

The table is positively groaning. Oliver has followed instructions and ordered simple BBQ meats and food like side salads and breads, but to Iris' delight, there is also a small chocolate fountain, with strawberries he had bought himself from the Farmer's Market.

"You go to the Farmer's Market?" boggles Barry.

"I'm particular about what I put in my body, Barry." says Oliver sternly. "Besides, I like cooking. Remind me to make you my soufflé sometime."

"This is why I don't cook," says Iris with relish as Barry stares at Oliver. "I'm surrounded by strong men who can feed me."

But there is also more than enough room for Grandma Esther's sweet potato pie. Zari had made a tub of Fesenjan (a Persian dish of rich meat stew), Amaya had baked a stack of Mandazi cakes from Zambezi and Clarissa had made laatkes. Jax and Ray had made a Pecan pie that they told anyone who would listen was Ladybird Johnson's own recipe.

"So you're telling me," says Joe skeptically, "that you went back in time and saved President Lyndon Johnson from Gorilla Grodd?"

"Acutually, it was the Viet Cong landmines that Grodd - yeah, well, basically," says Jax proudly.

"And Lyndon Johnson gave you his wife's legendary _pie recipe_ as a reward?"

"I mean. It's better than a medal." Jax says somewhat defensively "You can't eat a medal."

"That's what I said," Zari chimes in around a mouthful of cake.

"Well, hell. That aint by far the most unbelievable thing I've heard, I guess," says Joe, disgruntled. "All I'm saying is, I nearly got eaten by that damn monkey at least twice now helping save the city. Aint nobody gave me any pie."

"Yeah, but did you save the Civil Rights Act?"

Pride of place, of course goes to Barry's three-tiered tray of sugar-dusted brownies made specially for his bride, which everyone awws over.

"My husband made me my favourite brownies for our wedding," says Iris, munching on one happily. "This might be the most romantic thing you've done for me."

"Iris, I wrote you a _song._ "

"That's the second most romantic thing," insists Iris, "I love a man who can sing, but a man who can bake...yumm."

Barry looks nonplussed. "What about the first time I proposed, with all the candles and things?"

"Yeaaah, that was a bit much, Barr," Iris grimaces, then giggles at her husband's outraged look. "It looked like you'd cleaned out an entire aisle of Sinks, Showers and Stuff!"

Barry looks sulkily at his unrepentant wife. "...is it too late to give you back now?"

Iris retaliates by smushing the rest of her brownie against his mouth.

___

Mick is guarding his meat cuts with all the territorial ferocity of a grizzly. He had even made the sauces on his own. "I take my meat very seriously," he growls. Nobody is quite sure what to say to that, but they can't complain about the results. Apparently Mick Rory is one of the world's great undiscovered barbeque chefs.

"Holy crap, Mick!" Nate exclaims, returning for seconds. "This is the most amazing thing I've had in my mouth!"

Mick looks pleased. "You gotta know fire, Pretty," he grunts. Mick's face takes on that fanatic, disturbingly worshipful expression he gets around open flame. "Watch the heat _sear_ that soft, tender flesh and _burrrn_ the flavour out of it."

Nate eyeballs him. "...Oookay."

Pause.

"Also the horseradish sauce. Personal mixture."

"Ah," nods Nate agreeably, reaching for a beer, but - " _Hey_ , Mick, what the hell!" He yanks back his hand and glares.

"Next time you try take my beers, Im gonna slap you with these," Mick threatens, brandishing his tongs menacingly.

"Your - Mick that's a whole barrow of beer bottles!"

"Yes. Mine."

"You're going to drink an  _entire barrowful_  of beer?"

"Yes." Mick glares back as he takes a long pull of his current bottle, then drops it empty on the ground beside him with a satisfied burp. "This work takes fuel."

Nate looks incredulously at him. "Okay. Thank you for the pork chops. I'm just gonna go eat it somewhere I can't hear your liver screaming."

__

After dinner, when most of the party is happily inebriated, Jax finds Sara at the bar table where she and Alex have appointed themselves in charge of the alcohol. Serious in-roads have been made into the champagne fountain and whiskey stash, Alex and Sara having done the lion's share of the work. He finds the duo surrounded by empty bottles, throwing knives at a cake stand turned makeshift target board with terrifying accuracy.

Jax tries not to be impressed. "You are drunk, right?"

"Nope," Alex burps, giggles and scores another bulls-eye.

"As skunks," says Sara, squinting blearily at Jax while expertly flipping a knife between her fingers.

"So how are you doing that?"

"Well, her aim apparently just gets better when she's high," Sara explains, "and knives are like, sixty percent of my personality, so. What was your question again?"

"That you're throwing sharp objects around while drunk?" Jax says sternly. Alex giggles some more and Sara sticks her tongue out at him.

"Relax, Jax. They're only butter knives!"

As if to make a point, she flings one _thwack_ two inches deep into the cake stand. Zari wanders over, casually wrenches it out and goes to cut herself another slice of pie.

***

_Oh don't you dare hold back_

_Keep your eyes on me_

_I feel you holding back_

_Shut up and dance with me!_

Bellies full and (in the case of the bride) not a little tipsy, Barry and Iris burst onto the dance floor with abandon followed by Wally and most of the bridal retinue. It quickly devolves into a free for-all as Nate grabs Amaya, Amaya seizes Mick and Ray latches onto both Nate and Zari and they all descend on the dance floor like some sort of demented daisy chain. Mick roars in drunken delight and picks up and swings Ray and Nate like startled ragdolls, Zari skitters away to hide behind Kara and Amaya blithely takes a running leap onto his shoulders and stays perched there for all the world as though she's riding a grudgingly gentle bronco.

Jax and Sara have a hip-hop dance-off and the Danvers sisters do the funky chicken to much cheering and roars of approval. Cynthia is torn between appalled and endeared at her boyfriend’s version of the electric slide but Wells has no compunction in snickering at and heckling him until Cisco rounds indignantly on his colleague and demands satisfaction. Unable to refuse this gauntlet, Harry squares his shoulders and takes center stage to "Smooth Criminal" amid a throng of catcalls.

"I can't look," Jessie hides her face in Jay's shoulder in the soul-deep mortification all offspring feel when their parents sing and dance in public.

Jay pats her head in bemusement. "Actually, I think you can," he says, impressed.

Team Flash gapes as Harry does not only the Cha-Cha slide but also the Cupid shuffle and kick steps flawlessly. He does a perdect MJ spin, side slides and ends by moonwalking sleekly to a stop in front of a sputtering Cisco.

"Dad, what?" Jesse stares wide-eyed at her father.

Cisco finds his voice. "What the hell, Harry?"

Wells preens and smirks enigmatically. "I'm a man of many talents, Ramon. You should know by now not to underestimate me."

Cynthia dissolves into laughter at Cisco's expression.

___

"Oliver!" Barry bounds up to him beaming.

"No."

"Oliver, you have to." Kara says firmly.

"No I don't." Oliver would have made Yao Fei proud with his impression of being hewn from stone.

"Everyone else is doing it!" Barry persists. Oliver sends him a withering glare that is supposed to remind him that he had arrowed him without qualms as a young cub and would not hesistate to do it again. The younger man however, is punch drunk with happiness and the living embodiment of a puppy who has never been kicked, much less shot in the back twice. He levels the same glare at Kara, who he is keenly aware is invulnerable and has a look on her face that fills him with foreboding.

"I just thought of something," she says, a disconcertingly evil smirk sliding across her button-cute face.

Oliver looks even more forbiddingly at her, fear seizing his heart.

"Superpowers. He doesn't have them."

Nate and the gaggle of people he's teaching to dance an Irish reel pause to watch as Barry and Kara grab Star City's mayor and most feared vigilante by the shoulders and foist him onto the dance floor between them, impervious to his death glare and pinwheeling legs. Digg gleefully dives for Curtis' camera.

"Barry, I trusted you," says Oliver, looking at him with great betrayal.

"Oliver," Barry puts a hand on his shoulder and looks him solemnly in the eyes, "sometimes you have to hurt people for their own good."

Which is how Digg manages to acquire the only existing footage of the Green Arrow dancing, stoically kicking back and forth between a sunnily grinning Sara and Kara. It cuts off ten minutes in when René and Dinah shoves Digg into the line-up as well and continues filming them both.

(Lyla later remarks that both their footwork seem quite on point and wouldn't have been so hilarious if not for their twin stony expressions.)

***

Kara and Barry next clear the floor to grab the mics and sing “You’re the One That I Want” from Grease concluding with a tap dance sequence from “Singing in the Rain."

(“Turns out the Music Meister left a parting gift”

“The who now?”

“You don’t want to know, John.”)

Not to be outdone, Joe and Stein commandeer the stage to sing a duet - “More I Cannot Wish You” to Barry and Kara’s delight. Jax insists Stein follow up with “Day O” which prompts most of the party to attempt the Beetlejuice dance and sing along.

Everyone accepts the inevitable conga line forming to “Shake Senora” as a natural progression of events (Oliver conveniently disappears).

***

"It's kinda fascinating," says Nate, wide-eyed.

"So are train wrecks," Jax looks on grimly.

"I don't know," Martin volunteers, staring avidly. "Like Socrates, I feel this too has a certain educational value."

"Education in what?"

"Well that I'm not entirely sure."

They continue to watch Ray teaching Amaya and Zari the moves to Beyoncé's "Run The World". The girls' expressions flicker between hilarity and horror as he clasps his hands above his head and does a shimmy-shake-shake.

"Okay, that I would not have missed for the world," breathes Nate, reverently.

***

"May I cut in?"

Iris and Barry draw apart from their starry-eyed embrace to see Leo Snart addressing the bride. Leo's face is disconcertingly sanguine as always. They share a look of bemusement.

"Uh. Sure, I guess," says Iris warily.

"Go for it," Barry drops her hand and steps back.

"Much appreciated," Leo salutes Iris and grabs Barry's hand. He yelps in surprise as the other man pulls him in, wraps an arm around his waist and marches him backward around the dance floor.

Leo twirls him under his arm and swings him out so forcefully Barry's feet nearly slide out from under him and reels him back into his arms before he's finished staggering. He looks like a particularly satisfied cat as Barry begins to laugh hysterically and lets himself be expertly dipped low and spun around by Citizen Cold, to the whoops and cheers of onlookers, the loudest from his wife.

***

"Let's show these white boys how it's DONE!" Cisco hollers and jumps down from the stage, Curtis and Rene in tow. Curtis proves an unstoppable force on the dance floor with his Olympian dexterity and rhythm, Rene holds his own until he becomes overethusiastic and knocks Dinah into the punch bowl and Cisco promptly proves himself an embarrassment to all Hispanic stereotypes everywhere with his complete ineptitude at breakdancing.

It is Wally who proves to be the real MVP. He vows the crowd with his flawless footwork to Pharrel Williams’ “Happy” and challenges his new brother in-law to a dance off. Barry tries to concede and laugh it off but a enthused Iris practically shoves her new husband into the ring. A pitched dance battle ensues to deafening cheers.

Barry and Wally pop up grinning after a fierce crumping session, grabbing each other in a hug. They are spinning each other with their hands around their waists when Iris grabs the nearest bridesmaid, who happens to be Linda, and jumps in, declaring it a West-Allen vs Park-West dance-off (Wally chokes and Linda cackles maniacally)

Iris and Linda are having the time of their lives but Wally somewhat drops the ball by being distracted by the pretty pink flush on Linda’s cheeks and her smooth body popping and rolling.

“Sooo, when are we gonna tell him you dated her?”

“Pfft. It was like, two dates. Doesn’t count.”

“You ate a ghost chilli for her and threw up in the middle of my office, Barry.”

“Um. Maybe we won’t tell Wally that part."

Joe soon joins them to dance emotionally with one of his boys tucked under each arm. Iris pulls Cecile and a furiously blushing Joanie in by each hand and ducks them into the middle of the West-Allen huddle, all of whom draw them inside their loving, protective circle.


	3. Heart to Heart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Slow dancing, serious conversations and a very drunk Iris.

  
As the party winds down Martin croons “Edelweiss” at Clarissa into the mic, Joe and Cecile slow dance under the literal canopy of stars and Wally has finally gone to have a much-needed talk with Jesse outside. Linda is drunk-flirting with Sara, who thinks she’s completely adorable. Alex snickers into her glass. (“Oh my God. Was I like this the other night?” “Girl, you were a woman on a mission.”)  
  
Jax has an emotional conversation with Lily about being Firestorm without her father. Lily reminds him that the only reason she exists is because of Firestorm. "You're my brother Jax, just like Ronnie was," she tells him, big brown eyes full of earnest affection as Jax's own shimmer, and she pulls hiim into an embrace. They fondly watch Martin on the podium together, and Stein smiles back at the children of his spirit and blood, his heart full.  
  
Cisco holds Caitlin and sways wordlessly. There never needs to be words between them. They are all that is left of the first and will be the last, the ones who survived and fixed and sent others into battle and did their best to make sure they came home and still went on when some did not. Lovers and superheroes and mentors and betrayals come and go but the space between them forever holds steadfast.  
  
___

Kara finds herself sitting with Amaya and Zari sprawled on the grass. It's easier for them to talk frankly with each other, three strangers bound together in the kinship of loss.   
  
"I'm so tired of feeling like I'm the one who’s supposed to make sure everyone is protected and safe and happy but I'm not sure I'm ever going to be allowed to have any of those things," says Kara, unable to stopper the ache now she's released it. "It's like being so hungry and setting the table for a banquet I’m not allowed to eat. When do I stop feeling like I don’t belong anywhere?"

She gazes out at the tumbling waves burnished copper under the harsh city lights, wiping away the moisture in her eyes.

"Maybe the best we get is when we find other people who don't belong anywhere either,” says Amaya, thoughtfully. “Maybe all we can do is collect other broken-off pieces and try to make a whole. And then it becomes less difficult to bear."  
  
There is a beat of silence as they absorb this. “And you can also watch them be hopeless dorks and feel better about yourself,” observes Zari, pointing to a rambunctiously drunk Ray and Nate trying to choreograph “Single Ladies”.  
  
The maudlin mood dissipates as they dissolve into giggles.  
  
___

_Kiss me out of the bearded barley_

_Nightly, beside the green, green grass_

_Swing, swing, swing the spinning step_

_You'll wear those shoes and I will wear that dress_

Barry and Iris have stolen away from the party to stand at the edge of lawn. They watch the velvet of the sky brush against the white-tipped waves, swaying in each other’s arms, listening to the band. Iris is barefoot on the soft grass, making her short enough to nestle her face comfortably into his neck and for Barry to lean his chin on the crown of her head.  
  
“Hey Barry.”  
  
“Yes, Iris.”

“We’re _married_.” Iris gleefully holds their interlocked fingers up to the glow of a nearby lantern, watching their rings gleam against each other.  
  
“Yes, we are.” Barry tucks Iris tighter against his heart and clasps her hand like he could never let go. Iris sighs in contentment.  
  
“Hello, husband," she burrows contentedly against his chest.  
  
“Hello, wife.”  
  
“Hee. Husband.”  
  
“Hmm. Wife.”  
  
A beat.

Iris snickers into his neck. “We’re sickening aren’t we?”  
  
“Yep. Isn’t it great?” Barry grins at her.  
  
Iris giggles drunkenly and attempts to lean up to kiss her husband. Unfortunately, with the lack of both footwear and sobriety, she stumbles. “Why are you so stupidly tall?” she pouts. “I should have married a shorter husband.”  
  
“It’s not my fault you never managed to catch up,” teases Barry, and leans down to catch her lips. They taste like champagne and raspberry and love.  
  
“Barry!” Iris draws back as though something just occurred to her. “We forgot to have sex!”  
  
“We - what?” Barry looks at her in confusion.  
  
“Isn’t it tradition for the couple to sneak away at the reception and do it in a coat closet or something?”  
  
“Oh,” says Barry. Iris looks at him with the solemnity of the thoroughly inebriated. “Well, we’re fresh out of coat closets. Also you are higher than a bird.”  
  
“I am a little drunk,” concedes Iris. “But we should have sex soon. You look really good.”  
  
“I know,” agrees Barry.

“And you smell amazing.”

“Right?”

“I should have married you a long time ago.”

“But you did.”

"Ah yes. Mr. Bigglesworth did his best but it wasn’t legally binding, in the end.”

"Remind me again why we named a T-Rex Mr. Bigglesworth.”  
  
“Cause he had a bow tie and his little T-Rex arms could hold my doll tea tray so he was the butler dinosaur.”  
  
“This makes sense," Barry nods seriously.  
  
They kiss deeply and lean their foreheads together. “Hey Barry?” she breathes dreamily as they gaze adoringly into each other's eyes.  
  
“Yes, Iris?”  
  
“Has anyone ever told you,” she whispers against his lips, “that you have really stupid eyelashes?”  
  
She steals Barry’s laughter with a kiss.  
  
___  
  
  
Iris is sitting enthroned on Barry’s lap in one of the park benches, her skirt falling over both of them in a frothy white cascade, when Kara and Oliver amble up to the newlyweds, his coat over his shoulder. She holds out her hand regally which Oliver gamely catches and bows over.  
  
“Someone is very, very drunk,” explains Barry unnecessarily, kissing his wife’s head. She sparkles up at them all with a decidedly tipsy grin.  
  
“We can see that,” says Oliver returning her smile gently.  
  
“I am allowed to be drunk!” says Iris, jabbing her finger at Oliver but missing and pointing at a lamp post instead. “It’s my wedding day! That you made for me! I love you guys! You saved the world! And my cake!”  
  
“That’s what superheroes do, Iris,” Kara nods solemnly. “We rescue cake from the forces of evil.”  
  
“The important things,” agrees Iris. “Ooh! I just realized we don’t have a picture of the three of you together! Barry, where’s your phone?”  
  
“Are you sure that’s wise?” asks Oliver warily as Iris fumbles in Barry’s coat.  
  
“What, the mayor of Star City posing with a Central City CSI and a girl who doesn’t exist on this earth? It’s not like anyone could tell you’re the Big Three,” says Iris matter-of-factly, unearthing the phone.  
  
“The what now?” asks Barry, Kara and Oliver in unison.  
  
“The Big Three. There are three of you and you have powers and were the first superheroes in your cities," Iris absently pokes at the display with squinty-eyed focus, oblivious to their bemused faces, then looks up in sudden realization. "Oh hey! We should call you the Trinity!”  
  
“I don’t have powers,” protests Oliver.  
  
“You have the power of like, biceps,” Iris handwaves with perfect logic.  
  
“Are you seriously going to talk about his biceps on our wedding day?” complains Barry as Oliver looks bemused and Kara snickers.  
  
“All the days, all the time. Don’t pretend you don’t like his biceps too.” Iris winks conspiratorially at her husband, who raises his eyes to the heavens.  
  
“Oh my God.”

“Me and my biceps are standing right here, thanks.”  
  
“Good. Now you two go and stand with them. Those. Him. And hug.” Iris holds up the camera with great concentration.  
  
“Wait, what?” objects Oliver.  
  
“Smile!”

Iris later reveals pictures of a startled Oliver being ambushed into a sideways hug by a wildly grinning Barry and Kara, his subsequent strained grins as the two younger superheroes mug for the camera with their arms firmly around him, one where Oliver looks genuinely fond and trying to hide a smile with Barry and Kara’s heads on his shoulders, and a last one with him shoving the cackling duo away.  
  
“Why are you such children?” Oliver huffs in exasperation as the other three cheer victoriously.  
  
Satisfied with her pictures, Iris declares that she and Kara need to “bond more with the other girls.” She tugs Kara tipsily along to find Alex, Linda and Sara and leaves Barry and Oliver alone, seemingly unconcerned that her husband is still holding her shoes.  
  
Oliver smiles at the handsome straight-backed man who had once come to him so young and uncertain about being a hero. He remembers how strangely uplifting it had felt to have this sweet, bumbling, clever boy who had been given the powers of a god come to him so trustingly for help. For all the fondness and protectiveness he felt for the younger man, Barry had never needed him, not really.  
  
Barry sees Oliver looking at him. “What?” he asks uncertainly.  
  
Oliver clears his throat. “No, it’s just...I’m proud of you, Barry,” he says sincerely.

Barry’s ears turn pink and he ducks his head with a pleased smile. “For what? Getting married?”  
  
“Definitely that, considering how much you’ve had to overcome to get here,” concedes Oliver, “but also for everything else. Remember when you met me after you got your powers, I told you I thought the lightning chose you -”  
  
“Yeah, that made no damn sense, by the way,” Barry interrupts.  
  
“Brat,” says Oliver calmly and continues, ignoring his friend’s snickering. “As I was saying, I think if something out there _did_ choose you, they did a good job.”  
  
Barry looks touched. “I’ve messed up a lot though. Like. Epically."  
  
“We all have,” says Oliver, “But you had the courage and the will to not wallow in those mistakes and move forward. You never stop hoping, never stop looking to the future. Never lose your faith in people. And here you are, Flash.”  
  
Barry huffs shyly, “You know that a lot of those things apply to you too, right?”

“I’ll take your word for it,” says Oliver with a sad smile.

“Thanks, Oliver,” says Barry sincerely. “Guess you still have the all-wise mentor thing down after all.” His expression turns impish. “So, is this the part where we hug it out?”  
  
“In a manly way, of course,” says Oliver solemnly and feels smug at the other man's incredulity.  
  
“Seriously?” says Barry, impressed. “You let people hug you now? Wow, the Arrow has evolved!”  
  
“It’s the Green Arrow now,” he retorts, “and shut up before I change my mind.”  
  
Barry laughs and wraps his arms around the older man as Oliver grins over his shoulder.  
____  
  
  
Leonard has given up trying to get Mick to talk about his feelings and wandered off to try to and bully Stein into giving him a turn at the mic. Ray Terrill sidles up and attempts to apologize for his boyfriend's overly involved behaviour.  
  
"You're from this Earth, then? Ever met my Leonard Snart?" Mick inquires gruffly. He sits alone, sprawled precariously on a chair that's too small for him, grumpily nursing the last beer Sara has allowed him to have before confiscating the rest for the Waverider.  
  
"Not really. Caught a news report or two about a heist, maybe," says Glowstick cautiously.  
  
"Yup. He was the best thief. Best friend."

"My Leo was close to his Mick too," the other man volunteers. "Would have done anything for him. Broke his heart when he died."  
  
Mick grunts. "Snart stranded me in Time for thirty years once."  
  
"...oh?"  
  
"Well, he  _said_ it was an accident. But then he came forwards in time and killed me."  
  
There is a pause as Glowstick processes this.  
  
"...you seem to have recovered," he offers finally.  
  
"Technically it was an alternate version of me that was erased later. But he did once leave my ass in jail after I burned myself and told me we were done. After everything I did for him in juvie too."  
  
"I see."  
  
"Busted me out eventually, of course. Got me my Heat Gun and teamed up with me when the Flash showed up. We kidnapped the Frosty chick there. And the little geek in goggles. And tried to kill the Flash a buncha times. Good times." Mick swigs his beer with relish as Terrill's face goes on a journey.  
  
"Ah." he says weakly.  
  
The fun of discombobulating the newbie fades as Mick falls into a brooding mood again. "I miss the stupid cold bastard," he says, picking at the label of his bottle.  
  
"I'm sorry," Glowstick's words are too sincere to sound trite. Mick reckons he is, at that.  
  
"Hrrrrrm."  
  
There is a beat of companionable silence.  
  
"That's not him, though," Mick says nodding at Fake Snart, more to remind himself than Terrill. "He treating you right?"  
  
"What....er, yeah. Leo's amazing."  
  
"That's how I know it aint him. Snart couldn't do relationships. Didn't know how to be happy," Mick grunts, wisely. "Me, I'm dumb so I know how to take life as is and be happy. Beer. Good food. A fight. Pretty dame. Simple. Snart had too much brain. Good at plans, bad at life. Used to be good at staying alive, but. Hrrrm. Bastard didn't know how to be happy. Always running after something or the other, too busy making plans to figure what he wanted."  
  
Terrill eyes him as though trying to parse the mystery of his boyfriend's counterpart through him. "He never figured out what he wanted?"  
  
"I think he was beginning to get it." Mick looks at Barry Allen standing in the distance, "which is probably why he got spooked and decided to board a time ship in the first place. And me following after, as usual. Like I've done since I was fourteen and he was a runt with too big a brain. Can't complain, in the end, I suppose." He surveys the scattered Legends, the girls sprawled on the grass, Sara sending him a wink as she sneaks off with one of the band members behind the catering truck and Ray and Nate running around with drunken urgency, their arms full of boxes. "Run with worse crews. I think Snart knew I'd take care of them."  
  
"I'm beginning to get that." Mick looks up to find Glowstick looking at him intently, like a puzzle he had just unlocked.  
  
"You get out of here and take care of that idiot of yours.” says Mick gruffly, looking away. “My Snart had a heart but he never stopped runnin' long enough to let it thaw. Seems like yours got himself the best of both. That's the difference between them. He ain't runnin' anymore. Cause he's got you. You're the final score."  
  
"Excuse me?"  
  
"Nah, nuthin'," Mick casts around and notices Fake Snart in conversation with a grim-faced Queen, whose body language indicates that more personal space is urgently required before someone gets decked. "Might wanna go rescue your boy before Robin Hood clobbers him. I thought he was going to go sing?"  
  
"Ah shit, er yeah thanks, Mick. Talk later, sorry - LEO!" Glowstick takes off to rescue his idiot boyfriend, Mick's trevails forgotten.  
  
He enjoys the momentary peace and night air by himself for a minute. Then he sighs and pours his beer on the ground.  
  
"You better have stopped runnin' now, ya sonuvabitch,” he growls. “I miss you.  _He_ misses you, even if he never got it. Think that girl of this might've though. Hope all this was worth it. Shoulda left you to get your ass beat when you were a runty little idiot.” Mick wipes a tear away angrily. “I love you, ya cold bastard.”  
  
___  
  
Barry isn’t sure how he finds himself sandwiched between Cisco (who turns out to be a very insistent drunk) and Caitlin on stage, in a loud rendition of “We Are The Champions”. It’s at least hilariously bad; people holler their approval when they step off the stage, Cisco bowing expansively.  
  
He’s just in time for a much dishevelled Iris to stumble into his arms, starry-eyed, trailed by Kara, Sara and Alex.  
  
“Kara  _flew_ me, Barry!” Iris bubbles with excitement at him. "All around the city! And it wasn’t over fast like when you run, either! Kara can  _fly,_ Barry!”  
  
Barry stifles his laughter against Iris’ now-wild tumble of hair. “You trying to steal my wife already, Danvers?” he demands of his friend, who looks mighty pleased with herself.  
  
“You’re looking at the wrong blonde, Allen,” Kara says, cocking an eye at Sara.  
  
The Captain of the Waverider leers exaggeratedly at Iris. “Just say the word, sweetheart. We can fly away together, anywhere, anywhen.”  
  
Iris nods. “If I didn’t love you, Barry, I’d marry Sara. She’s so badass. And she has a spaceship! That makes cakes!”  
  
Kara and Alex shake with laughter and Sara tilts an imaginary cowboy hat at them. Barry looks tenderly down at his wife. “Wow. You love me more than a cake-making spaceship.”  
  
“Hmm” Iris snuggles sleepily against Barry. “But If I ever run off with Sara, you have my permission to marry Oliver.”  
  
“Thank you,” says Barry wryly as the women crack up around him, “I love how you’re always thinking of me.”  
  
“Always,” agrees Iris and tucks her face contentedly into his neck.


	4. Auld Lang Syne

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Goodbyes and new beginnings.

 

They decide that Iris’ flagging energy is a sign that it is time for the couple to leave for their honeymoon and begin their goodbyes. Iris is mobbed by her bridesmaids and Barry attack-hugs all his groomsmen with great enthusiasm, which even Oliver patiently allows once more.  
  
Barry hugs his sunshine twin tightly.  "Maybe we can just stick to musicals next time," he tells her, ruefully. "We can watch Singing In The Rain together. Iris and Cisco have all but banned it around them."  
  
"People have no taste," Kara commiserates. "Who could get tired of Debbie Reynolds and Gene Kelly?"  
  
"Right?"  
  
Barry once more feels indefinable sense of gravity when he looks into her sparkling blue eyes, as though he has known this woman for lifetimes before they had ever met. "But you know you're welcome to visit absolutely anytime, right?"  
  
The realization dawns on both of them at the same time.  
  
"On my couch, you're welcome to crash," Kara sing-songs.

Barry picks it up "- and if you ever need a hand, I’ll be there in a - ” they both crack up laughing.

"God, we're both cornballs," Kara grins wide at him and hugs him again in a cloud of golden hair.  
  
Barry and Iris goes on to personally express their gratitude to everyone who put their wedding together, not forgetting Mick who seems nonplussed at being thanked. Leo decides to bear hug them both again, to Barry’s endless amusement (and a small dull note of regret).  
  
They finally discover what Ray and Nate had been upto as a truly spectacular fireworks display lights up the waterfront. Luckily Jax had supervised the setting up before the drunken revelry, so no one loses a limb, and pictures of the gorgeous red and golden starbursts trend in Central City's twitter for a week afterward.  
  
(The pier gets set on fire only a little.)  
  
Someone starts drunkenly singing “Auld Lang Syne” which is carried up by other voices and the band obediently plays an accompaniment. (“What do you mean ‘Auld Lang Syne’? It’s only November, you animals!” “Martin, are you or are you not a time-traveller? It’s New Year’s eve somewhen.”) The crowd all sing with great gusto as they shepherd the newlyweds over the green to where the Waverider waits cloaked and waiting to fly Barry and Iris across the world to their belated honeymoon.  
  
___  
  
Caitlin feels guilty about the deep note of sadness that keeps echoing inside her. On the face of it, she _is_ happy. She is surrounded by friends and loved ones. She misses Ronnie but the grief is gone now. Zolomon's betrayal had merely made her stronger. She's not the same hurt, fragile, brittle woman that she was. She's not even a little bit afraid of Rory. And yet.  
  
She can wrap the warmth of her friends around her like a blanket but Caitlin feels like her bones are made of sorrow, somehow. Her soul feels like a still, dark pool that ripples only when a deep note of sadness falls on it. She is a scientist and dislikes using these poetic metaphors, but that is what she thinks of when she imagines it.  
  
She stands away from the crowd, watching as Barry and Iris are ushered outside amid the bittersweet melody rising through the air and closes her eyes. Pictures the long lowing note of loneliness dropping into the pool and then increasing its resonance until the waters begins to agitate and swirl and chop and surge upwards in a funnel, out of her heart, along her shoulder, her arm, the point of her finger, being caught in an updraft of bright love and longing and transforming into a million whirling crystals of ice, descending in a flurry of glittering flakes. Snow starts falling gently down on her friends' heads like a benediction, landing lovingly on Barry and Iris' hair.  
  
People whoop and clap at her and she smiles, hand still upraised, Ronnie's ring still gleaming on her finger, the one strand of warmth she can always feel within her. She waits while the happy couple boards the waverider and takes off the ring. "I love you," she tells the white-golden circle on her palm and pockets it, striding toward her family. It's time to start making her own warmth.  
  
__

Iris stands on the Waverider’s cargo ramp and pitches her bouquet backward with such force that it completely overshoots the gaggle of hopefuls clustering near the ship entrance and instead whacks Ray Terrill squarely in the face. He looks down at the roses in bemusement as everyone around him erupts into cheers and claps him on the back. Leo snakes an arm around his waist and kisses him passionately to even louder whoops and cheering.  
  
Barry takes Iris in his arms and they beam lovingly at their friends and family until the last moment when the cargo bay closes and the crowd retreats to a safe distance before Jax fires the thrusters. They all stand under the soft flurries of still-falling snow, in the magical glow of the fairy lights and golden lanterns, watching the Waverider glide smoothly overhead and disappear into the night.  
  
_

Kara sits on the hood of someone's car beside Oliver as they watch the timeship depart. She glances sideways at his wistful, almost yearning profile.

"Sooooo," she smacks her lips obnoxiously, "wanna get married?"  
  
Oliver looks around at her with an unimpressed expression and snorts. "Eww, gross," he deadpans, making Kara cackle loudly. He shoves her off the car, hiding a grin as she rolls around on the ground chortling.  
  
"I thought she couldn't get drunk," comments Sara in amusement as she walks up with Alex.

"Kara doesn't need to get drunk to get high," her big sister sighs and goes to cajole her up off the ground.  
  
She allows herself to be pulled up and hangs around Alex's neck like a koala, knowing she seems like the drunk sister rather than the sober one. They sway in each other's arms, cuddly-tired.  
  
"Why did you send the Waverider ahead with Jax? Are you sticking around?" Alex asks Sara, who is watching them with a strange expression.  
  
"Nah," the "sassy assassin" shrugs into a stylish black leather jacket over her bridesmaid dress, the artificial warmth having begun to dissipate in the absence of the Waverider. "I'm hitching a ride with Ollie to Starling. Say hi to my parents. Visit my sister."  
  
"You have a sister?" Kara perks up in interest. Despite having saved the world together twice now, the White Canary is still an enigma to her, lithe and dangerous and rakish. This is some common ground.  
  
"Yeah. A big sister," Sara smiles at her but something deep and wounded stirs in her eyes.  
  
"Hmm. Those are nice," says Kara uncertainly and subsides confused, resting her head on Alex's shoulder. Her sister seems to understand however, as she tips her head on top of Kara's and tightens her arms around her, looking steadily at the other woman.  
  
Sara's eyes, usually so dagger-sharp, turn sad and gentle as she watches them holding each other protectively. "Yeah. They're the best."  
  
___

"Remember when there was just one of everybody and villains would just stay dead?” Oliver tells Sara nostalgically as they walk to his car.

“You don’t know the half of it,” snorts Sara. “I erased Eobard from history last year. And now Dhaark’s back too.”  
  
Oliver stops in his tracks. "Wait, what?”  
  
“Necromancy is a bitch, man.”

Her friend searches her face, concerned. "Should I be worried?”  
  
“Nah, we can take care of him," Sara sets her chin and gives him a reassurring smile. She loves Ollie, but his mother hen impression is the worst. "Trust me. You just concentrate on mayoring. And the FBI investigation. Wow, Dad must be embarrassed," she laughs.  
  
“We don’t talk about it,” says Oliver carefully looking away. Sara snickers.  
  
“I missed you,” He looks down at her tenderly, looking so warm and strong and safe that her heart hurts. “Laurel would be so proud of you.”  
  
Sara determinedly pushes down the familiar flare of pain in her chest, and smiles back. "I think so," she makes herself agree easily. She can tell she isn't fooling him however, so she hurriedly casts around for a change of subject. "By the way, do I get to meet Ollie junior or am I already banned for being a bad influence?”  
  
“I absolutely want William to meet his honorary aunt,” says Oliver, then adds, “possibly with supervision,” -Sara swats him- “but he is definitely nothing like me. Samantha did a great  
job with him. Thea’s awake by the way. She’ll want to see you too. And you should meet Digg’s kid. Did you know he named his daughter after you in the other timeline Barry erased?”  
  
“Goddamn speedsters, always rewriting everyone’s fun,” grumps Sara, getting in the car. “I knew Speedy would make it through. Someone has to keep my Dad in line, and it’s not gonna be me for any money.”  
  
Oliver throws back his head against the driver’s seat headrest and laughs loud and long, suddenly sounding exactly like the carefree boy she had loved before the Gambit. “I missed you, Trouble,” he says and they share a grin at the childhood nickname Sara had all but forgotten.

"Missed you too, Ollie,” Sara lays her head against the warm strength of his shoulder that she has missed for so long. He drops a kiss on it and starts the car.  
  
“So what is this I hear about you having a buddy cop adventure with Slade Wilson?”

"What’s this I hear about you _breaking Time?”_  
  
“Don’t change the subject. We’re talking about you now.”

“How do you even _break Time_?”  
  
It’s going to be a long, argumentative drive. Neither of them would have it any other way.  
  
___

  
Iris leans against her husband as they stand at the bridge, looking out the windows at the glittering city below and the stars above. Jax says they are taking the scenic route, travelling extremely slowly by the ship’s standards for the bridal couple’s benefit.  
  
It hits her sometimes, the absurdity that is their lives. The wonder that is the man she married. It’s a life of having Nazi doppelgangers of their friends crash your wedding and then one of being transported to their honeymoon in an honest-to-God _time ship._  
  
It’s a life of being the wife of a superhero. Of being Barry Allen’s best friend.

So, so worth it.

She steps on her husband’s feet and reaches up on tiptoe to pull his giraffe neck down to her. His hair is mussed and sticking up floofily, his collar askew and lips imminently kissable. She cradles the sides of his head, holding his hooded gaze that shines dark blue in this light.  
  
“You are mine, Barry Allen” she tell him, "And I am never letting you go.”  
  
Tears cling to the roof of his lovely lashes. “I love you, Iris West-Allen,” Barry breathes against her lips, and captures her mouth. His fingers tangle in her hair, bodies pressed flush against each other and if feels as though a pressure that had been beating against their ribs is finally allowed to spill free.  
  
They lose themselves in each other surrounded by the kaleidoscope of stars, oblivious to time and space passing in the Waverider’s slipstream.  
  
_“Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know snow doesnt work like that. I was tired. ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯


	5. Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A time loop is closed.

  
  
When Dawn gets back to 2042, her parents' twenty-fifth wedding anniversary party is still in full swing.

She strolls back into the house and winds her way through the guests, ducking under Booster Gold's arm, rescuing a vase from an exhuberant Guy Gardener, pausing to order Beast Boy off the ceiling and neatly dodging an inquisitive Lian Harper. Finally she spots Auntie Sara, ash-blonde now but still eagle-eyed, and sidles up to her, dropping a photo in her open palm.  
  
Dawn herself smiles up from the photo, lovingly sandwiched between her mother and Sara Lance, her mother's best friend. It was taken an hour before.  
  
"Everything went well?" Sara murmurs, scanning the crowd as though to discern anachronisms.  
  
"Not a scratch on the Waverider" says Dawn proudly "Just had to show this and remind the younger you that you had a time ship and the capacity to be a Good Samaritan without a world ending crisis."  
  
"Hmmm. No detours?" Sara cocks a disbelieving eye.  
  
Dawn looks shifty. "Well...the Legionnaires may have turned up."   
  
"They just _happened_ to turn up?" snorted Sara. "And what 31st century wedding services did the Legion of Superheroes have to offer?"  
  
"They um, wanted to play at the wedding."  
  
Sara stilled. "The band?"  
  
"Yeah, they had gotten antique instruments and everything. Brainiac 5 had been teaching them. And it's not like anyone would have recognized them!" Dawn says hurriedly as her aunt's eyes narrow. "They said they wanted to see "history being made" whatever that means. No point asking them, even when you're a speedster in a timeship. They're more stringent about spoilers than a tv show fan forum," she finishes, disgruntled.  
  
Sara is not mollified. "And you just let them play in your parents' wedding? Dawn - "  
  
"They looked eager as puppies, Sara! Did you know Brainiac 5 does an amazing Ed Sheeran impression?"   
  
"Well, now I do," huffs Sara in displeasure. "You're sure none of you made direct contact with anyone except me?"  
  
"Not a rookie at this, Captain."   
  
They stand in silence amid the laughter and the noise of the party as the altered memories slot into place in Sara's mind.   
  
"Um. Dawnie?"  
  
"Yes, Auntie Sara?"  
  
"Did I make out with Starman in the back of the catering truck?"  
  
"I don't think either of us wants to know the answer to that question."  
  
"Right."   
  
Dawn and Sara gaze over the room at the milling heads of various assorted JLA members and their spouses and children. Some of their younger selves beam at them from various pictures of Dawn's parents' wedding, scattered throughout the house she and her brother had grown up in, their faces alight with happiness.  
  
"We did good, kiddo," smiles Sara, putting an arm around her favourite niece.  
  
"There you are, Dawnie! Wondered where you disappeared to!" Barry appears through the crowd. His temples are touched with grey and his frame is thicker and more solid, yet he somehow looks just as happy and jovial as he had when Dawn had seen him off, twenty five years and half an hour before. "I need to steal your junior partner in crime away for a dance with her ol' Dad, Sara."  
  
Dawn gives Sara a last salute and lets her father pull her out to the middle of the dance floor. Barry begins to spin her enthusiastically to "Sweet Caroline", making his daughter laugh.

"This was your favourite song when you were little," he says, smiling tenderly down at her as he twirls her under his arm.  
  
"Oh, you only remind me every time it comes on," says Dawn rolling her eyes. "I do remember practicing it for my dance recital with you, you know, even if I was seven."  
  
"Of course you do," Barry drops a kiss lovingly on her hair. "Speaking of remembering," he spins Dawn out with a flourish and pulls her in close. "I remembered to say "I do" after all, ladybug."  
  
Dawn stills in surprise and looks wide-eyed at her father as Barry twinkles down at her knowingly. The two of them grin conspiratorially and lean their foreheads together, the secret safe just between the two of them, as they sway in the middle of the dance floor surrounded by their family and friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hehe I had no idea Brainiac 5 was gonna show up in Supergirl when I wrote this. 
> 
> And that is it folks! The first multi chapter story I have ever completed. Stay tuned for outtakes and possibly a smutty wedding night fic.


End file.
